The Delirious Musings of One Nico di Angelo
by TrueDemigodishness
Summary: An injured Nico spills his guts to the remaining crew of the Ago II. Flames are invited.


**The Delirious Musings of One Nico di Angelo**  
**(or What the Son of Hades Really Thinks of the Seven)**

**Warning: Poor Nico.**

**Set aboard the Argo II, while it is sailing toward the House of Hades.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus, its characters, settings, events, etc. If I did, I wouldn't be worried for my babies.**

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Everything was hazy, fuzzy; he wasn't sure exactly what was going on. People-he should know them, shouldn't he?-were standing over him in a semicircle as he lay sprawled against a wall. They were talking, but they sounded really far away. _Really_ far away. Or like they were in a bubble. He frowned slightly. Or he was in a bubble. Whichever. Thinking was too hard, really. Every once in a while, a sound would pierce the bubble-doesn't _matter_ whose bubble-and strike him, loud and obnoxious, causing physical pain. There was enough of that already. Or there should be, a part of him was pretty sure. He felt weird. Disconnected. He felt like he was floating. He was floating, they were floating, everybody was floating. On a boat. He had a vague idea they were on a boat, but he couldn't think why._ I don't even like boats._

Now that he thought of it, there were other things he had ideas of that made no sense. He was pretty sure that kid . . . you know, the . . . shocky one with the . . . yellow hair (haha, yellow like lightning; why was that so funny?) had . . . umm . . . killed the . . . uhh . . . whatever needed killed. It's all good. There were other things, too, like jars, seeds, wonderbread, scary giants, spider people . . . spider people. Like Spider-man . . .

His thoughts were interrupted when some words got through again: " . . . die on me, cupcake, because-"

"Because you're Batman?" he interrupted, looking up and focusing on one of the figures hovering over him. He didn't know why he blurted that out. It just popped into his head and right out his mouth. He especially didn't know why he blurted that out while giggling like a schoolgirl. The Son of Hades does _not_ giggle.

The look on Hedge's face was priceless, though. There was a stunned moment, in which someone got off a confused "What?" before Coach exploded.

"EXCUSE ME?!"

Nico giggled again (_Stop it!_) before lowering his voice dramatically and growling, "I'm Batman." to his now thoroughly lost audience. The rational part of him wondered for a moment what exactly he was doing, but it was quickly and efficiently overcome by his deliriously crazed, talkative (read: rambling) side.

"Nico-" he looked back up at his name and at his sister (_not Bianca, Bianca's dead_), as she hesitated as if thinking how to word it. She-_Hazel_, that's it. Nice girl, that one.-Hazel continued gently, looking into his glazed eyes, "Nico, are you alright?"

He frowned, confused. "Fine." No idea why she asked him that. Did something happen? He scanned his foggy memory. Oh, yeah. Monster. Cool.

"Nico." That's the lightning kid-oh, yeah, _Jason_. "What are you talking about?"

Nico looked back at him like that was the stupidest question in the history of the world. "Coach is Batman."

They still didn't get it.

"'Cause 'e has a bat." He looked perturbed. "Even though he's not a man." Coach glared at the demigod murderously, but he didn't notice as he paused, then shrugged. "Close enough." Coach opened his mouth to retort, then threw his hands in the air and stalked away muttering. Nico gazed at his audience and noted their blank, confused expressions.

Turning to Jason, he proceeded to adopt a showman's voice and announced "And you're Thor, God of Thunder." Jason looked taken aback at the "god" part, but he continued unaware, dropping the voice. "You're even . . ." he searched for the right word (_Stupid floating brain!_) " . . . blond. That's the word for yellow hair!"Jason absent-mindedly reached up and touched his hair as Nico continued on. "And you're _lightningy_." Leo looked at Jason and mouthed "Lightningy?" Jason shrugged and shook his head. "No idea."

Nico plowed ahead, eyes wandering aimlessly as he spoke, completely oblivious to the disorientation of the others. "Thor's Marvel and Batman's DC, but who cares?" He paused to look at the group with wide eyes, as if waiting for an answer, but they just exchanged confused glances with each other. At the lack of response, he announced "I don't. They're all _heroes_, all super-heroes, like you guys: you're all heroes, and I think you're all super." He giggled to himself and slipped into Italian for a second ("Super. Heroes."), giggled again. "Swell." he muttered in English, "You're all just swell. I think. Gaia doesn't think." He snickered, "Haha, Gaia doesn't think." He suddenly snapped into a serious expression, eyes focused, startling the others. "Gaia doesn't think you're swell. I do, though."

And just as fast as it had come, the serious side of Nico fell away, leaving a giggling, child-like, rambling boy that, if any of the present demigods had known him then, they would have recognized as his younger self.

His babbling continued onto another topic, eyes constantly roving with a glazed, feverish look to them, as the others watched him in speechless wonder, without enough idea of what he was talking about to interrupt. Besides, the boy was normally so introspective, nobody was sure how to deal with him this way.

"Hazel is Magneto." His sister was startled, then confused. Perhaps this was another modern thing? She looked to the others for help, but Jason and Frank were just as confused as she, while Piper looked at her pityingly, and Leo looked horrified and slightly angry. "Even though he's a bad guy in the comics," _Oh._ Frank stepped forward threateningly. "Hazel's not." Nico clarified; she sighed in relief. He looked at her, then, dark eyes wide and brimming with emotion, "I love you, Hazel; I love my _sister_." He said "sister" so forcefully-like she was the most important thing in the world-that Hazel's own eyes instantly misted. "You're _good_." He was daring somebody to contradict him. "You're old, too, like Magneto, but you're good, not like Magneto." Hazel cried softly as she leaned into Frank's embrace. She knew Nico was delirious and had no idea what he was saying, but it felt honest-_real_- like these were Nico's inner thoughts. And that made the whole thing so much more meaningful. "You're a good person," he said again, "so that makes it okay, like Piper." Said daughter of Aphrodite jumped at her name.

"Piper's the Pied Piper." Now it was Jason who looked murderous, but Piper, pale and breathing heavily, clung to his arm and held him back. "He he. Same name. But that's not why-it kinda_ is_ why, but it's not the _main_ why-I mean, the main _reason_." Nico's voice took on a sing-song quality. "'S'cause your pretty voice like music makes people wanna dance to your tune." He switched back to the somewhat vacant tone he had been using before. "Whatever tune you want." Piper flinched, looking guilty, and Jason growled; Leo looked at the son of Hades with narrowed eyes. "But it's okay," Nico continued, as oblivious as ever, "'cause the Piper-the other one-he did _good_ things, too." Leo relaxed a little, but Jason remained on edge. "Good things. Like the rats. 'Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats.' Those are big rats." Leo chuckled. "But the Piper got rid of 'em. Poof! Gone. Bye-bye rats, no more problem. And you're good, too, so only good stuff . . ." he trailed off, confused, " . . . you do." Piper looked at him in astonishment, but Jason squeezed her hand reassuringly and nodded agreement, while Leo patted her shoulder and turned back to his fiddlings content, and she and Hazel shared a smile.

"Anyway," Nico continued after a brief pause, "Percy's Aquaman, duh." The others had to agree; he had a point. "But cooler."

"Leo . . ." Leo looked up, suddenly serious, and quietly put his spare parts away. " . . . is the Human Torch. Flame on!" Another giggle. "Ac'shly, Leo's more like a cross between the Human Torch and Iron Man. Th' both make people laugh, too, which is good. Leo's funny." Leo grinned at the others and wiggled his eyebrows in the way that usually means he's about to do something crazy. "The Human Torch has flame powers, like Leo, but Iron Man is smart and everybody needs him all the time to fix stuff and loves him, like Leo." Leo was stunned . . . and touched. "But Leo doesn't have a flying suit. Yet. Leo doesn't have a flying suit yet. Hey, Leo! Build a flying suit." Leo raised an eyebrow, but Nico didn't even look at him. "Thanks.

"Maybe Annabeth's Iron Man. 'Cause she's smart, ya know? But she doesn't have a flying suit, either." He stumbled in his speech. "No one has a flying suit?" He seemed bothered by that fact. And oddly distracted by the suit. "Leo has a flying ship, though," he reassured himself, "made from a flying dragon; and Jason has a flying _person_." Jason frowned, confused, and raised an eyebrow, as Nico fell into incoherent mutterings about who was most like Iron Man, things like "Percy has iron skin" or "Jason can fly." He shook himself and returned to his previous thought. "Maybe Annabeth is Reed Richards. He's smart. But I've never seen Annabeth stretch; is Annabeth stretchy?" He glanced at them, but all he got in response was a muted "uhh . . ." from Leo and a bunch of opened mouths. "Nevermind. Lotsa smart superheroes." His brow furrowed in thought. "I know! Annabeth's the Hulk!" Eyebrows shot up at this. "Not the _Hulk_," he corrected, "_Bruce Banne_r. Bruce Banner and the Hulk, all of 'em. 'Cause Banner's smart. He's a _doctor_. Not a doctor with needles, a doctor with _brains_. Not a psychologist, I mean he's _smart_. He's smart, and people always underestimate him 'cause he looks like just a normal weak little nerd, like Annabeth looks like just a normal blond girl, but then when he's angry he's actually the Hulk. Who's scary. Like Annabeth." Everybody thought of Annabeth mad and had to agree with this assessment, however muddled it was.

Nico was beginning to wind down.

"Haven't figured out what Frank is. Mutant, for sure." Frank looked slightly offended. "Mutants are cool."

"Technically, we're all mutants, 'cause we're all born this way. Huh." he paused in contemplation and his listeners were suddenly snapped from their trance by the return of Coach Hedge.

"What's your problem?" he demanded. "That kid obviously needs help."

"Ooh, food!" Nico crowed at the sight of the ambrosia Coach had brought.

The demigods laughed, moment well and truly broken, and turned to go.

"Hey, wait, Nico?" Leo called, and they turned back to the son of Hades, now curled up and nibbling a square of ambrosia. "What are you?"

Nico's head shot up to look at them, eyes already clearing as the ambrosia took effect. In his wide, dark, momentarily unguarded eyes, they saw how young he was-even by demigod standards, Nico di Angelo grew up entirely too quickly-but where innocent happiness should be, they saw instead a haunted pain as he croaked his quiet answer.

"The Grim Reaper."

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**Hope you enjoyed!**


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